Susquehanna Twp. Ward 3 during Pennsylvania's Primary Election.
CHRISTINE BAKER, The Patriot-News
The polls may have closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, but Pennsylvania's Democratic primary election for lieutenant governor marches on. The race remains too close to call and could trigger an automatic statewide recount.

State Rep. Scott Conklin, of Centre County, leads former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel by about 4,300 votes, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Conklin has about 35.4 percent of the vote to Saidel's 34.9 percent. A handful of precincts have yet to report and some absentee and provisional ballots have not yet been counted.

Under a 2004 state law, a race for statewide office in which the vote totals are within 0.5 percent of each other goes to an automatic recount. In an automatic recount, the state foots the bill for all 67 counties to re-tally their votes, which could cost the state between $300,000 and $800,000, Secretary of State Pedro Cortes said Wednesday.

Cortes said the cost depends on the types of voting machines used in each county, such as optical scan or touch-screen machines. Funding would come partly from a cushion the department builds into its budget, but it would also likely require an executive order from Gov. Ed Rendell to withdraw additional money from the state's general fund.

Some vote counts put Conklin ahead by 0.499 percent and some by 0.501 percent, meaning it is still unknown if a recount will be necessary. County boards of election have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to submit unofficial vote tallies to the Department of State.

The department would have until Thursday at 5 p.m. to order the recount. Recount results would be available no later than noon on June 9.

The last automatic recount occurred in November 2009 in the race for the fourth seat on the state Superior Court. Unofficial results showing Anne Lazarus of Philadelphia as the winner of the seat were confirmed by the recount.

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